Three Hospitalized after Orange County Crash

Last Friday, a box truck transporting coconuts north on State Road 429 around 5:10 in the evening got a flat tire around mile marker 15. The truck pulled over to the side of the road and the driver exited the vehicle. A passing driver in a Ford van noticed that the box truck and pulled over to assist. While they were sitting on the northbound shoulder, another Ford, a pickup pulling a trailer, approached the incident. At this time, all of the occupants of both the truck and the van were standing outside of their vehicles, appraising the situation and attempting to change the tire.

Traffic, which had up to that point been moving steadily, began to slow down at the same time that the Ford pickup closed in on the section of road with the box truck and the van. The driver of the pickup claims that the rate at which the traffic began to slow was too fast for his vehicle to handle. This caused him to swerve off to the right in order to avoid a direct rear-end collision with the car in front of him. Unfortunately, this caused the Ford pickup to collide with the rear of the van instead.

The statement from the Florida Highway Patrol indicates that the as a result of the initial collision, the van was shoved into the box truck. The trailer portion of the pickup also veered out of control, swinging directly into two people standing nearby. The pickup truck then flipped onto its side as a result of the sudden and violent new weight distribution.

In the aftermath of the collision, one of the individuals standing around the box truck was found trapped underneath the van. Emergency crews arrived swiftly and worked to extract the trapped person before rushing them to the hospital. Another one of the standing individuals was transported to a nearby hospital as well. Both of the pedestrians affected by the accident were listed as being in critical condition during the time they were admitted to the emergency room.

The driver of the pickup truck was also taken to the hospital, although his injuries were listed as being minor.

The Florida Highway Patrol is working together with the Florida State Troopers to unravel the events leading up to this accident with the hope of discovering in whose hands lies the culpability for the inflicted injuries.

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.

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